This is going to be a short post, as we and others will no doubt be writing more about this in the near future.

For Lease no longer? (photo via Prince of Petworth)

We’ve just confirmed that 1438 U Street – the building that once housed “Cada Vez” and several other ventures that never really took hold – is being purchased by the Indian embassy for use as an Indian cultural center.

Matthew Greeves, vice president at EJF Real Estate, tells us that the cultural center hopes to have various uses: classes, speakers and performance and art events in the large open first floor area, and daytime office in the higher levels of the building. He also says the embassy hopes to work with a highly-regarded architect to restore the buildings impressive exterior and create the best use of the large indoor footprint.

This is exactly the sort of development, or re-development, we’ve been hoping to see. Re-using existing structures in the neighborhood to bring daytime traffic and multiple uses without turning it into yet another bar or restaurant.

We’ll post more in the coming days, but from what we know right now, this is a project we can enthusiastically get behind!